Bible
Commentary
Genesis 47
In
this chapter we have instances, I. Of Joseph's kindness and affection to his
relations, presenting his brethren first and then his father to Pharaoh (ver.
1-10), settling them in Goshen, and providing for them there (ver. 11, 12), and
paying his respects to his father when he sent for him, ver. 27-31. II. Of
Joseph's justice between prince and people in a very critical affair, selling
Pharaoh's corn to his subjects with reasonable profits to Pharaoh, and yet
without any wrong to them, ver. 13, &c. Thus he approved himself wise and
good, both in his private and in his public capacity.
Pharaoh's
Generosity; Jacob Presented to Pharaoh. B.
C. 1706.
1 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my
brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come
out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. 2 And he took some of his brethren, even
five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they
said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our
fathers. 4 They said moreover unto
Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no
pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now
therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy
father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy
father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou
knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my
cattle. 7 And Joseph brought in Jacob
his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art
thou? 9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh,
The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and
evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the
days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their
pilgrimage. 10 And Jacob blessed
Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a
possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of
Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12
And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's
household, with bread, according to their families.
Here is, I. The respect which Joseph, as
a subject, showed to his prince. Though he was his favourite, and
prime-minister of state, and had had particular orders from him to send for his
father down to Egypt, yet he would not suffer him to settle till he had given
notice of it to Pharaoh, v. 1. Christ, our Joseph, disposes of his followers in
his kingdom as it is prepared of his Father, saying, It is not mine to give,
Matt. xx. 23.
II. The respect which Joseph, as a
brother, showed to his brethren, notwithstanding all the unkindness he had formerly
received from them.
1. Though he was a great man, and they
were comparatively mean and despicable, especially in Egypt, yet he owned them.
Let those that are rich and great in the world learn hence not to overlook nor
despise their poor relations. Every branch of the tree is not a top branch;
but, because it is a lower branch, is it therefore not of the tree? Our Lord
Jesus, like Joseph here, is not ashamed to call us brethren.
2. They being strangers and no courtiers,
he introduced some of them to Pharaoh, to kiss his hand, as we say, intending
thereby to put an honour upon them among the Egyptians. Thus Christ presents
his brethren in the court of heaven, and improves his interest for them, though
in themselves unworthy and an abomination to the Egyptians. Being presented to
Pharaoh, according to the instructions which Joseph had given them, they tell
him, (1.) What was their business--that they were shepherds, v. 3. Pharaoh
asked them (and Joseph knew it would be one of his first questions, ch. xlvi.
33), What is your occupation? He takes it for granted they had something to do,
else Egypt should be no place for them, no harbour for idle vagrants. If they
would not work, they should not eat of his bread in this time of scarcity.
Note, All that have a place in the world should have an employment in it
according to their capacity, some occupation or other, mental or manual. Those
that need not work for their bread must yet have something to do, to keep them
from idleness. Again, Magistrates should enquire into the occupation of their
subjects, as those that have the care of the public welfare; for idle people
are as drones in the hive, unprofitable burdens of the commonwealth. (2.) What
was their business in Egypt--to sojourn in the land (v. 4), not to settle there
for ever, only to sojourn there for a time, while the famine so prevailed in
Canaan, which lay high, that it was not habitable for shepherds, the grass
being burnt up much more than in Egypt, which lay low, and where the corn chiefly
failed, while there was tolerably good pasture.
3. He obtained for them a grant of a
settlement in the land of Goshen, v. 5, 6. This was an instance of Pharaoh's
gratitude to Joseph; because he had been such a blessing to him and his
kingdom, he would be kind to his relations, purely for his sake. He offered
them preferment as shepherds over his cattle, provided they were men of
activity; for it is the man who is diligent in his business that shall stand
before kings. And, whatever our profession or employment is, we should aim to
be excellent in it, and to prove ourselves ingenious and industrious.
III. The respect Joseph, as a son, showed
to his father.
1. He presented him to Pharaoh, v. 7. And
here,
(1.) Pharaoh asks Jacob a common
question: How old art thou? v. 8. A question usually put to old men, for it is
natural to us to admire old age and to reverence it (Lev. xix. 32), as it is
very unnatural and unbecoming to despise it, Isa. iii. 5. Jacob's countenance,
no doubt, showed him to be very old, for he had been a man of labour and
sorrow; in Egypt people were not so long-lived as in Canaan, and therefore
Pharaoh looks upon Jacob with wonder; he was as a show in his court. When we
are reflecting upon ourselves, this should come into the account, "How old
are we?"
(2.) Jacob gives Pharaoh an uncommon
answer, v. 9. He speaks as becomes a patriarch, with an air of seriousness, for
the instruction of Pharaoh. Though our speech be not always of grace, yet it
must thus be always with grace. Observe here, [1.] He calls his life a
pilgrimage, looking upon himself as a stranger in this world, and a traveller
towards another world: this earth his inn, not his home. To this the apostle
refers (Heb. xi. 13), They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims. He
not only reckoned himself a pilgrim now that he was in Egypt, a strange country
in which he never was before; but his life, even in the land of his nativity,
was a pilgrimage, and those who so reckon it can the better bear the
inconvenience of banishment from their native soil; they are but pilgrims
still, and so they were always. [2.] He reckons his life by days; for, even so,
it is soon reckoned, and we are not sure of the continuance of it for a day to
an end, but may be turned out of this tabernacle at less than an hour's
warning. Let us therefore number our days (Ps. xc. 12), and measure them, Ps.
xxxix. 4. [3.] The character he gives of them is, First, That they were few.
Though he had now lived 130 years, they seemed to him but a few days, in
comparison with the days of eternity, the eternal God, and the eternal state,
in which a thousand years (longer than ever any man lived) are but as one day.
Secondly, That they were evil. This is true concerning man in general, he is of
few days, and full of trouble (Job xiv. 1); and, since his days are evil, it is
well they are few. Jacob's life, particularly, had been made up of evil days;
and the pleasantest days of his life were yet before him. Thirdly, That they
were short of the days of his fathers, not so many, not so pleasant, as their
days. Old age came sooner upon him than it had done upon some of his ancestors.
As the young man should not be proud of his strength or beauty, so the old man
should not be proud of his age, and the crown of his hoary hairs, though others
justly reverence it; for those who are accounted very old attain not to the
years of the patriarchs. The hoary head is a crown of glory only when it is
found in the way of righteousness.
(3.) Jacob both addresses himself to
Pharaoh and takes leave of him with a blessing (v. 7): Jacob blessed Pharaoh,
and again, v. 10, which was not only an act of civility (he paid him respect
and returned him thanks for his kindness), but an act of piety--he prayed for
him, as one having the authority of a prophet and a patriarch. Though in
worldly wealth Pharaoh was the greater, yet, in interest with God, Jacob was
the greater; he was God's anointed, Ps. cv. 15. And a patriarch's blessing was
not a thing to be despised, no, not by a potent prince. Darius valued the
prayers of the church for himself and for his sons, Ezra vi. 10. Pharaoh kindly
received Jacob, and, whether in the name of a prophet or no, thus he had a
prophet's reward, which sufficiently recompensed him, not only for his
courteous converse with him, but for all the other kindnesses he showed to him
and his.
2. He provided well for him and his,
placed him in Goshen (v. 11), nourished him and all his with food convenient
for them, v. 12. This bespeaks, not only Joseph a good man, who took this
tender care of his poor relations, but God a good God, who raised him up for
this purpose, and put him into a capacity of doing it, as Esther came to the
kingdom for such a time as this. What God here did for Jacob he has, in effect,
promised to do for all his, that serve him and trust in him. Ps. xxxvii. 19, In
the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
Distressed
Occasioned by the Famine. B. C. 1706.
13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very
sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of
the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up
all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan,
for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's
house. 15 And when money failed in the
land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph,
and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money
faileth. 16 And Joseph said, Give your
cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17 And they brought their cattle unto
Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks,
and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread
for all their cattle for that year. 18
When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto
him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord
also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord,
but our bodies, and our lands: 19
Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our
land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us
seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. 20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt
for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine
prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's. 21 And as for the people, he removed them to
cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 22 Only the land of the priests bought he
not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion
which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. 23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold,
I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you,
and ye shall sow the land. 24 And it
shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto
Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your
food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. 25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives:
let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's
servants. 26 And Joseph made it a law
over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part;
except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.
Care being taken of Jacob and his family,
the preservation of which was especially designed by Providence in Joseph's
advancement, an account is now given of the saving of the kingdom of Egypt too
from ruin; for God is King of nations as well as King of saints, and provideth
food for all flesh. Joseph now returns to the management of that great trust
which Pharaoh had lodged in his hand. It would have been pleasing enough to him
to have gone and lived with his father and brethren in Goshen; but his
employment would not permit it. When he had seen his father, and seen him well
settled, he applied himself as closely as ever to the execution of his office.
Note, Even natural affection must give way to necessary business. Parents and
children must be content to be absent one from another, when it is necessary,
on either side, for the service of God or their generation. In Joseph's
transactions with the Egyptians observe,
I. The great extremity that Egypt, and
the parts adjacent, were reduced to by the famine. There was no bread, and they
fainted (v. 13), they were ready to die, v. 15, 19. 1. See here what a
dependence we have upon God's providence. If its usual favours are suspended
but for a while, we die, we perish, we all perish. All our wealth would not
keep us from starving if the rain of heaven were but withheld for two or three
years. See how much we lie at God's mercy, and let us keep ourselves always in
his love. 2. See how much we smart by our own improvidence. If all the
Egyptians had done for themselves in the seven years of plenty as Joseph did
for Pharaoh, they had not been now in these straits; but they regarded not the
warning they had of the years of famine, concluding that to-morrow shall be as
this day, next year as this, and much more abundant. Note, Because man knows
not his time (his time of gathering when he has it) therefore his misery is
great upon him when the spending time comes, Eccl. viii. 6, 7. 3. See how early
God put a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites, as afterwards in
the plagues, Exod. viii. 22; ix. 4, 26; x. 23. Jacob and his family, though
strangers, were plentifully fed on free cost, while the Egyptians were dying
for want. See Isa. lxv. 13, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry.
Happy art thou, O Israel. Whoever wants, God's children shall not, Ps. xxxiv.
10.
II. The price they had come up to, for
their supply, in this exigency. 1. They parted with all their money which they
had hoarded up, v. 14. Silver and gold would not feed them, they must have
corn. All the money of the kingdom was by this means brought into the
exchequer. 2. When the money failed, they parted with all their cattle, those
for labour, as the horses and asses, and those for food, as the flocks and the
herds, v. 17. By this it should seem that we may better live upon bread without
flesh than upon flesh without bread. We may suppose they parted the more easily
with their cattle because they had little or no grass for them; and now Pharaoh
saw in reality what he had before seen in vision, nothing but lean kine. 3.
When they had sold their stocks off their land, it was easy to persuade
themselves (rather than starve) to sell their land too; for what good would
that do them, when they had neither corn to sow it nor cattle to eat of it?
They therefore sold that next, for a further supply of corn. 4. When their land
was sold, so that they had nothing to live on, they must of course sell
themselves, that they might live purely upon their labour, and hold their lands
by the base tenure of villanage, at the courtesy of the crown. Note, Skin for
skin, and all that a man hath, even liberty and property (those darling twins),
will he give for his life; for life is sweet. There are few (though perhaps
there are some) who would even dare to die rather than live in slavery, and dependence
on an arbitrary power. And perhaps there are those who, in that case, could die
by the sword, in a heat, who yet could not deliberately die by famine, which is
much worse, Lam. iv. 9. Now it was a great mercy to the Egyptians that, in this
distress, they could have corn at any rate; if they had all died for hunger,
their lands perhaps would have escheated to the crown of course, for want of
heirs; they therefore resolved to make the best of bad.
III. The method which Joseph took to
accommodate the matter between prince and people, so that the prince might have
his just advantage, and yet the people not be quite ruined. 1. For their lands,
he needed not come to any bargain with them while the years of famine lasted;
but when these were over (for God will not contend for ever, nor will he be
always wroth) he came to an agreement, which it seems both sides were pleased
with, that the people should occupy and enjoy the lands, as he thought fit to
assign them, and should have seed to sow them with out of the king's stores,
for their own proper use and behoof, yielding and paying only a fifth part of
the yearly profits as a chief rent to the crown. This became a standing law, v.
26. And it was a very good bargain to have food for their lands, when otherwise
they and theirs must have starved, and then to have their lands again upon such
easy terms. Note, Those ministers of state are worthy of double honour, both
for wisdom and integrity, that keep the balance even between prince and people,
so that liberty and property may not intrench upon prerogative, nor the
prerogative bear hard upon liberty and property: in the multitude of such
counsellors there is safety. If afterwards the Egyptians thought it hard to pay
so great a duty to the king out of their lands, they must remember, not only
how just, but how kind, the first imposing of it was. They might thankfully pay
a fifth where all was due. It is observable how faithful Joseph was to him that
appointed him. He did not put the money into his own pocket, nor entail the
lands upon his own family; but converted both entirely to Pharaoh's use; and
therefore we do not find that his posterity went out of Egypt any richer than
the rest of their poor brethren. Those in public trusts, if they raise great
estates, must take heed that it be not at the expense of a good conscience,
which is much more valuable. 2. For their persons, he removed them to cities,
v. 21. He transplanted them, to show Pharaoh's sovereign power over them, and
that they might, in time, forget their titles to their lands, and be the more
easily reconciled to their new condition of servitude. The Jewish writers say,
"He removed them thus from their former habitations because they
reproached his brethren as strangers, to silence which reproach they were all
made, in effect, strangers." See what changes a little time may make with
a people, and how soon God can empty those from vessel to vessel who had
settled upon their lees. How hard soever this seems to have been upon them,
they themselves were at this time sensible of it as a very great kindness, and
were thankful they were not worse used: Thou hast saved our lives, v. 25. Note,
There is good reason that the Saviour of our lives should be the Master of our
lives. "Thou hast saved us; do what thou wilt with us."
IV. The reservation he made in favour of
the priests. They were maintained on free cost, so that they needed not to sell
their lands, v. 22. All people will thus walk in the name of their God; they
will be kind to those that attend the public service of their God, and that
minister to them in holy things; and we should, in like manner, honour our God,
by esteeming his ministers highly in love for their work's sake.
Jacob's
Charge Concerning His Burial. B. C. 1706.
27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen;
and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt
seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred forty and seven
years. 29 And the time drew nigh that
Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have
found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal
kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: 30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou
shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I
will do as thou hast said. 31 And he
said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the
bed's head.
Observe, 1. The comfort Jacob lived in
(v. 27, 28); while the Egyptians were impoverished in their own land, Jacob was
replenished in a strange land. He lived seventeen years after he came into
Egypt, far beyond his own expectation. Seventeen years he had nourished Joseph
(for so old he was when he was sold from him, ch. xxxvii. 2), and now, by way
of requital, seventeen years Joseph nourished him. Observe how kindly
Providence ordered Jacob's affairs, that when he was old, and least able to
bear care or fatigue, he had least occasion for it, being well provided for by
his son without his own forecast. Thus God considers the frame of his people.
2. The care Jacob died in. At last the time drew nigh that Israel must die, v.
29. Israel, a prince with God, that had power over the angel and prevailed, yet
must yield to death. There is no remedy, he must die: it is appointed for all
men, therefore for him; and there is no discharge in that war. Joseph supplied
him with bread, that he might not die by famine; but this did not secure him
from dying by age or sickness. He died by degrees; his candle was not blown
out, but gradually burnt down to the socket, so that he saw, at some distance,
the time drawing nigh. Note, It is an improvable advantage to see the approach
of death before we feel its arrests, that we may be quickened to do what our
hand finds to do with all our might: however, it is not far from any of us. Now
Jacob's care, as he saw the day approaching, was about his burial, not the pomp
of it (he was no way solicitous about that), but the place of it. (1.) He would
be buried in Canaan. This he resolved on, not from mere humour, because Canaan
was the land of his nativity, but in faith, because it was the land of promise
(which he desired thus, as it were, to keep possession of, till the time should
come when his posterity should be masters of it), and because it was a type of
heaven, that better country which he that said these things declared plainly
that he was in expectation of, Heb. xi. 14. He aimed at a good land, which
would be his rest and bliss on the other side death. (2.) He would have Joseph
sworn to bring him thither to be buried (v. 29, 31), that Joseph, being under
such a solemn obligation to do it, might have that to answer to the objections
which otherwise might have been made against it, and for the greater
satisfaction of Jacob now in his dying minutes. Nothing will better help to
make a death-bed easy than the certain prospect of a rest in Canaan after
death. (3.) When this was done Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head,
yielding himself, as it were, to the stroke of death ("Now let it come,
and it shall be welcome"), or worshipping God, as it is explained, Heb.
xi. 21, giving God thanks for all his favours, and particularly for this, that
Joseph was ready, not only to put his hand upon his eyes to close them, but
under his thigh to give him the satisfaction he desired concerning his burial.
Thus those that go down to the dust should, with humble thankfulness, bow
before God, the God of their mercies, Ps. xxii. 29.